PARIS — The noise was loud and relentless, a chorus of thousands of belting out " Ra-fa! Ra-fa! " whenever their guy found the occasional moment of brilliance of the sort he has conjured up so often at the French Open and elsewhere through the years. The 15,000 or so on hand roared their support when Rafael Nadal stepped out into Court Philippe Chatrier on Monday. When the 14-time champion at Roland Garros approached the net for the prematch coin toss.
When he took his swings during the warmup. And, especially, when he whipped his trademark topspin lefty forehand or chopped his two-fisted cross-court backhand or placed a volley perfectly to claim a point. The problem for Nadal, and for his fans, is that there were not nearly enough such points for him in this match against Alexander Zverev.
Not enough vintage play to allow his nearly 38-year-old, oft-injured body to claim one more victory, no matter how much the folks in the stands tried to will that to happen. And so he lost 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the first round of the French Open to Zverev in what might turn out to be Nadal's last match at the clay-court tournament he dominated for so long. "If it's the last time that I played here," Nadal said, "I am at peace with myself.
" When Monday's match ended, in anticlimactic fashion, with the 22-time Grand Slam champion simply unable to play at his usual level after 1 1/2 years of hip and abdominal injuries, he thanked the crowd for the "incredible the amount of energy" it provide.
